1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to media devices and, more particularly, to playing of media on media devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Media players are becoming more popular these days. Of particular popularity are portable media players such as MP3 players or DVD players. Media players operate to play media items for their user that are stored within the media players. The media items are most commonly audio items (e.g., songs) but could also be video items (e.g., DVDs). Typically, an MP3 player will store various audio items internally on a storage disk. When the user makes a selection to play one of the stored audio items, the audio item must first be loaded into semiconductor memory (i.e., Random-Access Memory) before the audio item begins to be played. The delay in reading the rather large file for the audio item is unsatisfactory to users who are anxious to hear the audio item they have already selected to be played. Recently, advancements in MP3 players have enabled some MP3 players to begin playing an audio item before being completely loaded into semiconductor memory. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,226.
Whenever a media item to be played is not stored within the semiconductor memory, the storage disk must be accessed. Unfortunately, storage disks are rather costly in terms of power consumption for small, battery-powered MP3 players. Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques to reduce the need to access the storage disks of media players.